Pumpkin Soup & Sweets for the Eid el Berbara

What a sweet weekend it was.

 A heart-warming rich, tasty soup is what I crave for in a cold wintery night, with a piece of bread. Last year I have prepared the butternut squash conserves but never tried the pumpkin soup. So this time I chose a nice pumpkin and head to the kitchen. Cooking it was very easy and simple. I found the recipe on one of my favourite food website, bbcgoodfood.com.

And sunday was a holiday, the feast of Saint Barbara, Eid el berbara, celebrated mostly by children who wear costumes and masks and go knocking on doors to collect candies and sweets.

The best part is the sweets we prepare. Very delicious food. I have prepared Maacroun, the anis-flavoured semolina fried dough soaked in sugar syrup and Qatayef, the pancakes filled with kashta or walnut-almond-sugar mixture. We also boil whole barley topped with nuts and sugar.

Happy Saint Barbara’s day.

Maacroun

Maacroun is a dessert that’s also prepared on Eid el Berbara and it is one of the most delicious sweets. I prepared the dough myself, my first time, and the result was a huge success. Everyone liked it.

Maacroun is either baked or fried then soaked in sugar syrup, Qater. I prefered to go with the frying thing, since it’s more delicious. And because it’s been a long time since I ate fried maacroun.

The preparation of the dough is so easy. It has to sit for a while covered with a blanket or so. I couldn’t wait more than 10 minutes. The result was a delicious sweet crunchy pastry. The important thing about Maacroun is that, they are best eaten after hours or the next day because the dough will absorb all the sugar syrup and it will be softer, sweeter, the flavors more stable.

Qatayef

Qatayef is an Arabic dessert made from a simple dough batter. It is prepared on holidays. And specially on Eid el Berbara. And it is similar and cooked like pancakes. Filled with either cream, Ashta, and served with sugar syrup (Qater), or a mixture of walnuts, sugar and orange blossom water, this one could also be deep-fried.

We made a batch at home, this past weekend, and filled them with Ashta and a mixture of walnuts. The cooked doughs were so delicious, I ate few plain qatayef, without any filling. Since I love doughs, I couldn’t just look at them and fill them, I had to eat few pieces. So delicious…they were fluffy, light and soft.

Preparing the batter is so easy, and takes no time. And cooking the Qatayef is a fun thing to do.